Posted on: Tuesday, June 4, 2002

Victoria Chang to transfer to UH

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Victoria Chang, the fastest female distance runner in Hawai'i high school history, will transfer from Stanford to University of Hawai'i to complete her eligibility, her parents said last night.

Chang, a 2000 Punahou School graduate, will return to Honolulu Saturday and sign a scholarship agreement with UH early next week, said her parents, Roy and Anna Chang.

Chang, finishing her second year at Stanford, is taking finals this week and could not be reached.

While Chang will not enroll at UH until the fall semester, she won a coveted internship this summer at the UH Institute for Biogenesis Research, led by Dr. Ryuzo Yanagimachi. Team Yanagimachi won world-wide fame for UH in 1998 when it cloned mice.

Stanford will recognize some of her UH credits, Chang's parents said, and she will graduate from Stanford in 2 1/2 years with a degree in biology. She will continue to take undergraduate courses at UH while she completes her athletic eligibility, the Changs said.

Chang has red-shirted in track because of a stress fracture in 2001 and has three years of eligibility remaining; she has two years left in cross country.

She hopes to enter the John A. Burns School of Medicine at UH when she is finished running competitively.

"There are several reasons" for the transfer, Roy Chang said. "She thinks UH has a nice up-and-coming track program (reinstated the past season) and the coaches will tailor workouts for her strengths and weaknesses. ... Also, if medicine is her future, she wants to do it here."

Chang won all eight state championship track distance races that she entered in high school and holds state meet records of 4:38.83 for 1,500 meters and 9:38.03 for 3,000 meters, both set in 1999. She also was the national Footlocker Cross Country champion in 1999.